10 Ways Valorant Is A Clone Of Counter-Strike

It’s safe to say that Valorant shares more than just a few similarities with Counter-Strike, which since its conception in 1999 has remained one of a kind in the world of FPS games, reigning unchallenged for 20 years. But that is all about to change with the upcoming release of Riot Games’ newest shooter, which takes Counter-Strike’s formula and runs with it.

Despite the stylized graphics and glossy sheen, the game feels like it belongs to a bygone era with movement slowed by the inability to sprint, and death animations instead of the ragdoll physics that we have come to expect in modern shooters.

Back in the day, such limitations were due to a lack of technology, but in Valorant they are present by design.

Riot Games evidently set out to capture the magic of the early shooters while ensuring that their new title appealed to the gamers of today. With its roots planted firmly in the late '90s, it pulls elements from 2016's Overwatch, particularly in regards to its hero design. Indeed, Valorant's Omen more than resembles Reaper both visually and mechanically, and the same can be said of Sova and Hanzo.

In this article, however, we will be focusing on how Valorant draws heavily on Counter-Strike, so much so that it has been widely regarded as 'Counter-Strike 2.0' or even the 'Counter-Strike Killer'.

Like in Counter-Strike, the main objective of Valorant is to plant a bomb or, where the other team is concerned, to defuse it. Each map has two bombsites (or more with the introduction of a third on the map 'Haven') and the attacking team must capture one of these sites and blow it up.

The defending team must, of course, prevent this from happening by either eliminating all the enemy players or defusing the bomb, or the 'spike' as it is called in Valorant.

New game types are rumored to be on the way, but it is likely that this classic scenario will remain the chief competitive mode.